


hello. you must’ve used something awfully sharp to carve that in there. naughty.

by dominozaza



Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Akabane Karma is a Little Shit, Blood and Injury, Cussing, Dark Magic, Depressed Akabane Karma, Dissociation, FUCK, Good Writing, Heavy Angst, High School, I'm Sorry, LMFAO - Freeform, M/M, Magic, Nagisa being Nagisa, Not A Fix-It, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, School, Shiota Nagisa Needs a Hug, Symbolism, a big one, also pay attention to the teacher near the beginning she's someone from assclass, and the second half after i finished a three page long essay for school, i think, lots of blood sorry, nagisa is human though dont worry, nagisa is sad, sorry if the style changes i wrote the first half of this at like 2 am, spoiler its not human, this is my first time tagging SORRY LMFAO, try to figure out what karma is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:33:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28103250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dominozaza/pseuds/dominozaza
Summary: assassination classroom happened and everyone died or left nagisa to rot for reasons unknown to me (even rio sorry guys). nagisa is in a shit spot of life after letting the trauma eat at him for years, and meets karma.
Relationships: Akabane Karma & Shiota Nagisa, Akabane Karma/Shiota Nagisa
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	hello. you must’ve used something awfully sharp to carve that in there. naughty.

**Author's Note:**

> hi this is my first time posting and it's just for fun but idm criticism!!!! also tw blood (a lot), birds?, fear, knives, vomiting, food, possible ed warning??? it wasn't my intention but it could be interpreted that way ig, dissociation!!!!!! uhh suicide, mention of impalement, murder ? i think that's it !!! again this was just for fun i know there's mistakes but Enjoy *breakdances*

nagisa curled the knife around, emitting an ugly scraping sound that made him shiver. the bathroom was silent. somewhere between sharpening his pencil in math and a ball hitting the back of his head in gym, nagisa’s mind wandered away. somewhere between those memories that could’ve been hours or minutes ago, nagisa found himself crouching on the bathroom floor, mindful of the mysterious puddle a few inches away. his memory was a rude thing, only giving him bits and pieces of a puzzle and expecting him to fill in the blanks himself. it wasn’t always rude; that memory is strong and clear at least.  
long ago, before the sun blurred with fluorescent store lights and his head weighed a ton, everything was clear. it was clear and he was happy and strong and had many friends. oh, his lovely friends. knew each other for years, as a magician knows his tricks and as a taxi driver knows the roads. they loved each other so fiercely, the ache of it still echoed in nagisa’s heart. so much that some days it just seemed impossible, how they had loved each other so dearly. they loved him as fire loves oil and as an empty shelf loves dust; steaming hot and warmly familiar. obviously, it was short-lived. love that nagisa had experienced was far and in between and he knew as soon as it was gone that he’d never feel it again.  
maybe it was better that way. better that he didn’t remember most things and kept himself scarce when people larger than life found their way to him again. better to not remember than be tortured with the memories of danger and despair. nagisa sucked in a sharp breath, looking down at his hand where he clutched the knife too tightly, slowly, he peeled his fingers off the blade, blood already sticky on his fingertips. he should look away. look away and get up off the filthy ground and clean up and return to class like the good little student he should be. but his eyes stayed glued on the space between his bloody fingertips and the blade of the knife and before he knew it he was on his hands and knees, choking for air.  
images flashed behind his eyes of blood and someone screaming. he knew what was keeping, and had enough self restraint to open his eyes, met with the dirty bathroom tiles. nagisa swallowed. he glanced up at his carving on the wall, around three feet above the ground.  
hello.  
there was a cold hand on his stomach and another grappling onto the wall for support. short breaths. the stall door in front of him blurred for a second, before it flew open and he was standing up straight again.  
what nagisa did next was a series of steps: clean off the knife and put it away. wash his hands and hope to god his fingers don’t need bandages because the school will charge him for it and his ribs feel like they’re protruding out at an odd angle in his hand-me-down t-shirt. dirty up several clean paper towels and throw them in the garbage. walk out of the bathroom and return to his class like normal.  
like normal.  
who he was was a thin, laughable ghost of the boy he used to be. but the long ribs and cold hands and eyes he didn’t need to look into the mirror to know that they were dead and rotting was the new normal. something to pass the time, to create a bridge.  
as he forced a spark to his eyes walking past his classmate in the hall, nagisa curled his hand up and felt hot blood in it again. the hallway in front of him blurred. why won’t this end?

three days later, nagisa stared out the window of his english class. a crow flew past, so fast it was out of nagisa’s sight in a few heartbeats. he sighed, resting his chin on his hand. it would be so useful if they had taught him to fly. how to create and spread his wings and soar away to a world that never blurred and never made him feel as if he was disintegrating. his gaze shifted to the bland bandaid wrapped around his middle finger. no, they had just taught him to kill. i can’t say it won’t be a useful skill in the future, nagisa admitted to himself, flexing his sore hand around.  
in front of the class, nagisa’s teacher droned on. she was a tall woman years past her prime with thinning gold hair and glasses that reflected the too bright school lights. nagisa avoided looking at her for that reason, and because the glint of disappointment and regret that shone in her eyes whenever the two made eye contact was too much.  
too much.  
nagisa almost laughed. how ironic it was that in a time where he needed something wholly different from the monotone cloudy days, he had looked away. looked away to get lost in the clouds and wish he could sprout wings and take himself far, far from there.  
for a split second, dark hair flashed behind his eyes and before he could compose himself, tears were slipping down his cheeks. nagisa blinked, bringing up a hand to wipe away the cold. it wasn’t the time to cry, and he knew that. he knew that, so why weren’t the tears stopping? was he sick? had he hit his head on the way to class somehow?  
there was a sound then, and he looked up to see those eyes full of disappointment and regret. this time, nagisa recognized worry, too, deepset in the woman’s light brows. her mouth was moving but it wasn’t making noise. nagisa frowned as he realized his ears were ringing. they were ringing too loud for him and there were too many eyes on him and his stupid tears and sliced fingers and nagisa stopped breathing for a second. he only gave himself a second, though. a mindless excuse slipped past his lips into the blurry classroom. nagisa watched as the words slithered towards the woman, filling her up with honey. he doesn’t know what he said, but it made the woman nod and turn back around and it made the eyes all around him close and he breathed in.  
there was a fast, sharp pain in his hand. he simply closed his hand around the hot blood again and looked out the window to the birds. they might know how to fly, and he was jealous of that. but they couldn’t kill in the same way he could. 

nagisa grabs a tray of lunch to smile at the lunch ladies in passing an hour later; they quite like him. he doesn’t know why. the food’s steam rises up and makes his face feel too hot and clammy and nagisa drops the tray at a full table, words slipping past his lips once again. all the vultures at the table needed were a few syllables and they were over his tray like complete monsters. nagisa felt a pang of shame when he realized how awful his judgement was considering this could be the kids’ only meal a day, but the feeling faded into the dull ache rather quickly.  
the ache filled his lungs up with glass and his vision with water and he cursed himself for leaning against a pillar to catch his breath. such a weak piece of meat he was. they’d never let him destroy his body like that. nagisa didn’t let himself think about that, casting the thought into a dark corner of his mind to be inspected later when he was in a safe place to cry.  
instead, nagisa pulled himself up, ran a hand through his light blue hair, and made his way out of the cafeteria. the hallways were awfully long and cold, but it wasn’t long before nagisa stood before the entrance to the boy’s bathroom once again. it was the one farthest away from the cafeteria, free from any lonesome souls that were too embarrassed to sit alone.  
nagisa slips through the opening, eyes set on the stall at the end when something on the wall to his left catches his eye.  
hello.  
hello. you must’ve used something awfully sharp to carve that in there. naughty.  
a bubble of emotion rises from nagisa’s feet through his legs, swirling around in his stomach before rising to his head. he blinks, looking around to find he’s on the floor again, knife poised to skim the wall. nagisa doesn’t remember getting his knife out, but his eyes flick back to the point and the words above it.  
who is this person? what should he write? is it someone he knows? they seem witty. nagisa bites his lips as he works, only the sound of the knife scraping against hard wall and his own breathing to keep him company. nagisa makes quick work, and is up with the knife away in a few seconds. normally, he would sit in the stall for lunch, far away from the horrible loud noises of the cafeteria. instead nagisa finds himself walking away, not knowing where he’s going until the large doors of the school library greet him. that message wasn’t there the day before during lunch, which meant it had to have been written by someone on that side of the school in the second half of the day. after lunch there were only two periods, which narrowed down the list of possible people considerably.  
nagisa paused at the entrance to the library. why did he want to know who this person was so bad? he shook his hard quickly, so hard that he was slightly dizzy walking into the quiet library. loneliness was rendering him a fool.  
there was a spot nagisa quite liked in a dark corner of the library, where nonfiction books and some random titles were piled precautiously. the lights barely reached it, and most people didn’t bother hiding in a spot that would immediately expose their bad behaviors, so nagisa adopted it as his own. he squatted down, sliding onto the hard carpet floor a second later. it was an odd pattern. he also avoids looking at it for it makes him dizzy and the colors are in such a way that it reminds him of-  
nagisa clears his throat along with all his thoughts of friends and carpets and blood. slid his hand down a particularly tall pile of books, most the same copy of some book about the human body. nagisa took the copies out of the pile and slid them into another shelf; he came there to learn and he knew well enough about the human body.  
he sat with his back against a hard bookshelf, one side open to the long aisles of books. around him he’d arranged small piles of two or three books on whatever he got his hands on. books around him made him feel safe and secure; they couldn’t move or change like humans, and the knowledge within them usually stayed the same. if the information inside books like the ones nagisa read changed it was likely just numbers or scanned bars of the library that had been slapped on with a sticker. if not, it was an annotation in the librarian’s handwriting, usually correcting biased or incorrect information. nagisa didn’t know any other students who read books like him by name, and he didn’t care enough to learn them. names were simple and foolish and not worth nagisa’s time.  
the bookshelf behind him shook slightly and laughter and talk could clearly be heard. the voices blended together. nagisa pulled his knees up to his chin, book as close to his face as he could get it. the bookshelf shook once more, violent enough that two books fell from a shelf above his head and onto his non-wounded hand. hot, aching pain found its way into his fingers once again and nagisa scowled. he turned his body towards the group of oncoming people, prepared to yell at them for disrupting his reading, his hand flat on the floor.  
the group came into view; six people. nagisa’s stomach churned at the thought of twelve eyes on him, and before he could think about it he was shifting away to hide out of their view. his knife poked him from his back pocket and he swore. the carpet and books blurred in front of him and his head became unbearably heavy and hot for a moment.  
the babble of the group passed. nagisa’s head suddenly felt heavy, as if he were moving through water rather than air. he swallowed, sliding his tongue against his teeth and turned back around and jumped.  
a boy with obnoxiously bright red hair had his eyes glued to something behind nagisa. nagisa frowned as the boy’s mouth moved and he heard nothing. hot breath clouded nagisa’s head. the other boy’s gaze wandered, finally meeting nagisa’s eyes. that was when his words became clear enough for nagisa to frown again.  
“are you deaf or something? give me your name,”  
the red haired boy’s voice was full and demanding but only in nature. a quick scan of his long limbs and easy posture made nagisa’s mind scream danger! danger! threat! but a smaller feeling, the same bubbling emotion from earlier, told nagisa the boy wouldn’t harm him.  
“why do you want it?”  
nagisa’s voice surprised him. it was deeper and lighter and had no life in it. inwardly, he cringed. he hadn’t really heard his own voice in a while, and while he knew he was dying, the the full force of everything hit him right there. the air was sucked out of his lungs as black dots spotted his vision, covering his view of the loud boy before him. there was a second of sharp breaths and then nagisa forced himself to gulp, forced himself to focus on the boy.  
“what’d you say again?”  
“i want it because you’re cute,”  
nagisa blinked. “huh?”  
in painful clarity, the boy sauntered over to nagisa’s spot on the floor, nearly sitting on a pile of books nagisa wanted to read. he crossed his legs, leaning towards nagisa until he was close enough for nagisa to smell the overwhelming stench of perfume. cotton candy.  
“you’re cute,”  
nagisa really didn’t know what to say. he blinked once more, looking the red boy up and down again. he wore red converse, dark jeans that were loose-fitted around the bottom, and a gray jacket that slipped off his left shoulder. under the jacket was another musty gray shirt, orange letters peaking out from the jacket’s zipper. the boy’s hair fell over his bright eyes and curled around his lightly pointed ears. despite himself, nagisa found the other boy cute as well.  
“nagisa. i’m nagisa shiota,”  
the red boy grinned then, a crooked thing full of something nagisa just couldn’t place. he stuck his hand between the two, a bandage similar to nagisa’s on his palm.  
“i’m karma. karma akabane,” nagisa didn’t fail to catch the teasing tone in his voice, but chose to ignore it along with his outstretched hand. he tilted his head, leaning back.  
“karma? like that english word?”  
karma let out a small, breathy laugh. “yeah. i don’t believe in karma, though. don’t really like facing the consequences to my actions, you know?”  
nagisa didn’t know what to make of the boy. he shrugged, glancing down at the books that had fallen from the bookshelf a minute before. craning his head to read the title, karma read it out loud the same time as nagisa read it in his head.  
“norse mythology.” karma made a small hm sound. “were you reading that?”  
nagisa shook his head. there was a beat of silence between them.  
“in norse mythology they don’t have karma,”  
“really?” karma tilted his head as nagisa had done earlier, curiosity shining like water across his features.  
“yeah, really. i mean, they have something similar that they call… Ørlög,” nagisa stumbled over the pronunciation. “it’s less like what we think of karma and more like fate. it does depend on you but not as much as karma does, in my point of view,”  
karma’s eyes shined. “i supposed karma and fate are a bit similar if you think about it,”  
“i suppose they are. you can’t change your fate, though,”  
karma shook his head, falling back to lay face up on the floor. “i don’t know. i’m not cut out for discussions on fate and life and whatnot; i don’t see the point in talking about something you don’t believe in,”  
nagisa’s eyes traveled around the shape of the boy’s face and hair. he would be an interesting painting. karma’s eyes met nagisa’s again, and the red haired boy practically oozed confidence. nagisa wasn’t sure what kind of trap he walked into, but he was sure that he wouldn’t be the one banging on cage doors by the end of it. he shifted closer to karma, leaning his face over karma’s sideways and asked, “what do you believe in, then?”  
karma’s cheeks had brightened, either from the boy with blue hair or the stuffy feeling of the corner they sat in. his eyes shone and he bit his lip.  
just as karma opened his mouth to respond there was a shrill sound that went on for five seconds, followed by the bustling of the student body. nagisa’s vision went blurry for a second, and he shut his eyes painfully tight.  
when his eyes opened again the sound of the bell and students had long since faded. nagisa’s vision was dotted with stars. a glance down told him that karma had taken the mythology book. maybe he’d promised to read it or something. the boy didn’t know, and didn’t really care. he stood, realizing he held a small book in his hand. the cover yelled something at him about fae. he brought the book to the library counter, lights making his head pound. he felt unnaturally heavy.  
a minute later nagisa sat in a hard chair in his classroom, book no longer in his hand. his desk blurred at the edges and his lined paper was blank. his stomach moaned. 

the next day nagisa leaned against the toilet bowl during lunch, sweat slithering down the side of his face. pants and the sound of some dripping liquid filled the bathroom. his ears rang again. or maybe that was the bell. was he hearing things? the bell usually wasn’t that loud. everything was so blurry. his body shook again- or maybe someone was shaking him. the stall door he’d locked couldn’t keep out a toddler. vomit escaped his mouth again, hot and violent. something flashed under his eyelids. maybe it was the light to heaven. maybe he was dying in that bathroom. maybe he’d finally get to see his friends again.  
he’d only eaten half a roll of bread during lunch; gave most of his tray to the vultures, then had ran to the library in hopes of seeing that fiery red hair again. it was so painfully bright. the boy’s stomach clenched and rolled. most of the lunch period was gone. it was only after nagisa was halfway through the book from the day before about fae that he remembered the writing in the bathroom, and had nearly ran the way there as well. by the time he got to the bathroom his knees were buckling and the world was blurring yet again. he didn’t remember going into the stall or when he started throwing up; all he knew was that he was on fire.  
cold hand clenching his stomach fat, nagisa rolled his head, breathing heavily. if he let his head fall to the floor he would have a clear view of the written conversation with a stranger.  
hello.  
hello. you must’ve used something awfully sharp to carve that in there. naughty.  
will i get coal in my stocking this year?  
no. maybe you’ll get me instead. i’d make a great present.  
the last sentence was accompanied by a wiggly drawing of a round head with sharp ears popping out of a wrapped box. the boy didn’t know why he was vomiting. but for some reason the yellow and black coloring of the drawing had made his mouth dry and hot blood squeezed between his fingers like a lemon.  
a lemon.  
nagisa coughed, bile rising up. ridiculous. it was ridiculous. everything was in that stupid school, full of mindless worker bees and disappointment and regret and shining lights. the lights were the worst part. they changed colors and were sometimes too bright or sometimes not bright enough and whenever they touched his skin it felt like he was being poked by satan’s pitchfork.  
the stall door blurred. hatred spiked inside of him, making a beat of pain go through his head. he didn’t know who the hatred was for. the list of people was too long. it was too long since he’d rested. since he had laid down and truly slept. he sniffed loudly. as much as he wanted to lay down on that floor and close his eyes to never wake again, he still wanted to write back to the stranger on the wall.  
a deep breath. another sigh in through his nose and the boy was up on two feet, stumbling towards the wall. he didn’t know what he was writing. the only things he was aware of was the scream of the knife against the wall and his heavy breathing, yet again. he hit the wall for punctuation, eyes already closing. the world was large and blurry and the boy had enough sense to put his knife away before someone came in.  
and nagisa let out one more long breath before succumbing to sleep.

there was a warm body against his. so, so warm. but it was moving and it was moving too fast and the boy didn’t like that. his eyes squeezed shut and he tightened himself against the body as much as he could. the smell finally registered in his mind and his eyes flew open. a sight full of stars and something large and blurry and gray and red filled his vision. he wanted to protest against the body. he wanted to kick and yell and scream and god he wanted to cry but all he had the energy to do was wrap his arms farther around the body. maybe he’d steal its warmth. the smell invaded his nose again. the smell of cotton candy.  
and the boy was asleep once more.

three days later, the boy sat in the cozy corner of the library yet again. he had never really believed in god but as he sat there skimming through the book on fae he whispered a silent prayer.  
a silent prayer for himself, and only for himself. the boy had always been selfish.  
the boy with the fiery hair came a minute before the bell rang. nagisa looked up at him with clenched teeth, taking his hand to stand. he opened his mouth to speak, but karma put a single finger on his lips.  
“we’re in a library,” the other boy gave him a look as to say do you think i’m stupid? karma merely smiled softly, pushing a light piece of paper into his palm.  
the boy looked down at the writing. an address- and a time. it was a place not far from the school. the boy looked up, mouth opening to speak again, but karma was gone. 

sat between a dying oak tree and trashcan on a bench, nagisa supposes the park is a bit lovely. sure, the children running around and yelling make his ears ring and leave him dizzy with jealousy, but their laughter is nice. maybe it brings him a bit of happiness, if he dared to say the word. the swings are behind the boy, and even though he looks odd sitting backwards he can’t stomach seeing them; they’re much too fast and a child wearing yellow got sick a bit earlier and the boy didn’t trust himself enough to look at them. not when he needed to be alert when karma came.  
even though there was a voice violently insisting that karma wouldn’t hurt him, the boy listened instead to his gut. yes, he had puked them out a few days earlier but back when his memory wasn’t hazy and his vision didn’t blur his gut had always saved him.  
the sun beat down on him. he pulled his hood around his neck tighter only to quickly pull it off and shiver. too tight. the boy bit his nails as a wave of anxiety washed over him once again, prompting him to do a 360 of the park. when he saw no flash of red hair, he checked his watch; 3:56. he’d been early. and knowing what he did about karma he was likely to be kept waiting for another ten minutes.  
he stood up, hand reaching out to the bench to steady himself, and ignored the way his feet ached and his stomach growled. the boy looked up towards the sun, putting a hand in front to shield his eyes. his vision blurred anyway. the boy took a deep breath, cold air poking and prodding at his lungs like they were punching bags.  
a deep breath. and then nagisa was off.  
at first he’d just wanted to warm his body up and walk a bit; after all, he wouldn’t be able to stand another incident. wouldn’t be able to pay for it, or deal with the rumors that flew around on their high horses like wasps. ugly, loud wasps. that cost him dearly for something that could’ve been avoided if he hadn’t let himself go so far.  
the boy shivered in the shadow of a tall tree that stretched higher than he could see. the memory of walking into the forest a bit ago, gravel trait grinding against his feet, was slightly blurry. at least it was there at all. a tangy scent hit like oranges his nose, making him frown and turn around.  
the boy knew he’d strayed off trail a bit, just enough to stop feeling hard gravel rocks and to start feeling soft dusty dirt, but he only realized just how far he’d gone when the trail was no longer visible behind him. in fact, all around him was low-lying green plants and thick trees were all that he could see. buttery sunlight streamed through the holes of the tree foliage, painting the forest floor a masterpiece. a sucked in breath and flinch when a squirrel scurried across a nearby tree. the boy blinked, digging his hands deeper into his pockets. all he can see is the trees and the sunlight, and for a moment his chest tightens. coughing in hopes of easing it as if it’s something stuck in his throat, the boy takes short steps. where? he doesn’t know. all he knows is that karma will probably be gone by the time the boy gets back to the bench they were supposed to meet at and he wants to die. maybe it’d be easier to just impale himself of some stick right there in the forest. the thought flitted across his mind and nagisa grimaced.  
“why the long face?”  
the boy twirled around, one hand out to balance himself and one on his chest. his eyes met a light pair, almost yellow, and something very deep within his gut told him to run.  
“karma,” the boy breathed, likely too quiet for the other one to hear. he swallowed and stepped forward. “karma, i’m--”  
karma merely put a finger to the the nagisa’s lips to quiet him. the boy didn’t realize just how close he’d got; just a second ago he couldn’t sworn karma was a good ten feet away. his vision blurred and there was a sharp tug in his gut; that same feeling telling him to run.  
and like the sick, cowardly fool he was, the boy ran.  
branches and roots scraped his skin and the boy felt burning blood dripping down his arm, down his wrist and right off his fingertips. more than once the dark trees and yellow light in front of him blurred. all that the boy could hear were his own heavy footsteps and heavy breathing. his chest ached as if it was a balloon that people threw darts at but the darts stuck and his fingers started going numb. thighs and arms burning, the boy didn’t risk a glance back. before his ears had started ringing he didn’t hear another pair of footsteps behind him, but he didn’t need to hear it to know karma was there. he was there and if the boy didn’t hurry the hell up he was going to die.  
die. the thought settled over his bones, wrapping around and tightening on every muscle. the boy’s vision started dotting with black. just a few minutes before he had imagined him impaling himself on a tree branch, but the thought of really dying made him dizzy. dizzy and sick and made his heart beat erratically. the boy closed his eyes as a clearing neared, golden light shining onto the light dirt, and sprinted.  
sprinted until finally the sun shone on his body in full, until he fell to his knees, doubling over and retching.  
“you humans are so unpleasant,” the voice to nagisa’s right brought tears to his eyes, and he whipped around, hands up.  
“karma,” a pitiful breath, yet again. “karma, my mom needs me, my--” he took several large breaths and swallowed. “she’s waiting for me karma, i need to--”  
“oh?”  
the boy stayed silent. something in karma’s tone made his stomach spin, but tighten enough that he shut up. karma walked towards him with the same elegancy he had something like a week ago. the boy looked up at karma, light shining from the sun behind him hindering his face. come to think of it, with the pose the blue boy was in, it was almost identical to their first meeting. it made his head spin slightly.  
karma squatted down in front of the boy, head tilting to the left. “i have an idea,” his lips looked impossibly soft. he smiled, revealing canines that were just a little too long for the other boy’s liking. karma leaned in close to the boy, breath falling onto his face. though it should’ve been hot, especially after the distance they’d traveled, it was ice cold. the boy with blue hair shivered and leaned back.  
“does she know your name?”  
the boy blinked. “what?” his voice was hoarse. karma smiled, teeth scraping against his bottom lip and cold breath sliding down the boy’s neck.  
“what is your name, boy?” 

“it’s... i’m…”  
a harsh laugh filled the clearing. ravens from a nearby tree flew away. the boy sucked in a breath, looking up at them, asking, begging, to be taken with, to not be left to the mercy of whatever karma was--  
an impossibly cold hand gripped his face, turning his head toward karma. for the first time the boy stared straight into karma’s eyes.  
they were hot. hot, burning, like the blood still seeping down the boy’s face and arms and onto the earth. in them he saw nothing and everything. maybe it was the cliche saw your life flash before your eyes thing the boy often heard about or maybe karma was some crumpled version of that being from years ago or maybe he was some kind of magic that was meant to terrorize, but the boy saw his life in karma’s eyes. he saw his life, and his death. the boy’s eyes widened and karma’s grip on his jaw left.  
the boy blinked, rubbing the cold spot where karma’s hand had been. something hot fired up straight from the boy’s chest.  
“after all these goddamn years? it’s you?”  
karma nodded, eyes dim.  
and the boy lunged.

**Author's Note:**

> dms r open on @96TENNN on twt come yell at me TELL ME WHAT U THINK KARMA IS !!!!!! i know he's swag But Other Than That. what creature is he.  
> p.s take care of urself!!!!! go drink some agua and thanku for reading this <3


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